Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code-division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time-division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) systems, 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, and orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) systems.
Generally, a wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple mobile terminals. Base stations may communicate with mobile terminals on downstream and upstream links. Each base station has an assigned frequency band of spectrum and coverage range, which may be referred to as the coverage area of the cell. Service providers are typically allocated blocks of frequency spectrum for exclusive use in certain geographic regions. These blocks of frequencies are generally assigned by regulators regardless of the multiple access technology being used. In most cases, these blocks are not integer multiple of channel bandwidths, hence there may be un-utilized part of the spectrum. As the use of wireless devices has increased, the demand for and value of this spectrum has surged, as well. Nonetheless, in some cases, wireless communications systems do not utilize portions of the allocated spectrum because the portions are not big enough to fit a standard or normal waveform. The developers of the LTE standard recognized the problem and decided to support 6 different system bandwidths, namely 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 MHz. This may provide one partial solution to the problem. Furthermore, to support higher capacity under certain traffic load conditions, cell splitting may occur in the spatial domain. In other words, the coverage area of a cell may be spatially divided into smaller geographical areas. The spatial splitting approach, however, generally requires more towers, more equipment, and/or additional backhaul connections. To support higher peak data rates, two separate and independent channels may be assigned to one user in some cases.